Due to current advances of the electronics industry, consumer media devices are steadily increasing in number and complexity. Many of today's living rooms are equipped with several interoperating consumer media devices, such as, for example, a television set, external speakers, a VCR, a DVD player, and others.
Many of these devices are controlled by a remote control. Thus, the average consumer is often forced to handle multiple remote controls, in order to configure various devices. This often results in confusion and frustration. In an attempt to address this problem, the remote controls of some devices are configured to operate with other devices. For example, a television remote control may be configured to interoperate with a VCR as well. In addition, universal remote controls have been developed. A universal remote control is designed to operate with a large number of devices.
However, the remote control functionalities of various consumer media devices differ based on the manufacturer of the device, the type of the device and other factors. Thus, different devices accept remote instructions based on different protocols. Therefore, a remote control which operates with different types of devices, must be able to operate according to different communications protocols. In order to select the correct communications protocol, the remote control must be configured with the type of device it is meant to operate with. Many remote control manufacturers allow a consumer to manually select or enter certain predefined codes into a remote control, the codes being associated with particular devices owned by the consumer. Other remotes can record or “learn” codes, by pressing keys on an original remote in order to program a new remote. However, such practices are complicated and burdensome for many consumers.
Typically, several interoperating consumer devices may be integrated into a home entertainment system. Such a system may include, e.g. an audio receiver or audiovisual control center, TV and/or video monitor, playback devices such as CD, DVD, video and/or MP3 players. There may be cable, satellite and/or broadcast inputs. There may also be one or more computers, and the system may be part of or interfaced with a network. A home entertainment system requires seamless cooperation between the various devices it comprises. Such integration may be difficult to achieve in view of the large variety of media devices available on the market today. Some manufacturers offer pre-packaged home entertainment systems. Thus, the manufacturer may ensure that the various components of the system operate seamlessly together. However, such systems may not take advantage of the competitiveness of the home entertainment market. For example, a consumer may determine that a television set produced by a first manufacturer is the best choice, but may prefer a VCR produced by a second manufacturer. In this event, the consumer must assemble a heterogeneous entertainment system. Each device is typically controlled by its own remote control, which does not operate or may only partially operate other devices, especially those by other manufacturers. Thus, assembling and using a heterogeneous entertainment system may present a daunting task.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,848 issued to Ehlers and hereby incorporated by reference describes a remote control that may be configured to operate with different devices. Ehlers teaches a remote control which can replace an existing remote control by “learning” its functionality. A user must place a remote control to be replaced in communication with the Ehlers remote control and press each button of the remote control to be replaced, as well as an associated button on the Ehlers remote control. The Ehlers remote control receives the signals from the remote control to be replaced and saves them, thus “learning” the functionality of that remote control. The Ehlers remote control may be thus configured with the functionality of several other remote controls, and be used with a variety of devices.
Configuring the Ehlers remote control may be a tedious procedure and may confuse many consumers. Inadvertent errors in the way the consumer configures the remote control (such as pressing the wrong button) can result in saving the incorrect data, and subsequent incorrect operation. And since the consumer is required to press many buttons in exact sequence, such errors are likely. Furthermore, the Ehlers remote control is used to directly control each individual media device, and merely replaces the remote control that was originally provided with such device. Thus, the Ehlers remote control may not be used to automatically perform more complex home entertainment system functions, which may require issuing multiple commands to one or more devices. Note particularly that each and every key and function of a native remote must be independently “learned” by the Ehlers remote. There is no data store of remote protocols, nor is any media device identified. Codes are simply copied, one by one, by a user.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,511 issued to Rumbolt et al. discloses a “universal” remote control which requires that a user be able to manually select the model of the media device he/she is controlling. U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,847 issued to Zato discloses a remote control device, which allows a user to control several media devices by manually selecting the device to be controlled. The Zato remote control is not able to control a wide range of devices, it is intended for a few media devices that are produced by the same manufacturer such as, for example, a ZENITH television set and a ZENITH VCR. U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,034 issued to Harger discloses a remote control which allows the manufacturer to easily specify the device or devices to which the remote control operates by permanently wiring certain leads of an integrated circuit to logical “0” or “1”. This step is performed as part of the manufacturing process. Once the remote control is shipped to the consumer, it is only capable of controlling a single device, or a small number of devices upon manual selection by the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,359 issued to Rumbolt et al. (referred to as Rumbolt II herein) and hereby incorporated by reference describes a remote control that includes means for identifying devices. The Rumbolt II remote control allows the user to initiate an identifying stage. During the identifying stage, the remote control attempts to perform a simple action (such as “channel up”) on a device of a predefined general type (such as a television set). The remote control sends a sequence of several remote control codes which are associated with this action in various remote control protocols. The user observes the device and indicates to the remote control when the correct action has been executed by the device (i.e., the channel has been changed). The remote control then selects the protocol of the last send code as the protocol to be used by the device and thus “identifies” the device.
The Rumbolt II identification process is relatively complex and thus prone to user error. For example, since the remote control sends the various codes in sequence, the timing of the user's response is significant. If the user waits too long to indicate that the action has been performed, the remote control may have reached the next code in the sequence which will therefore incorrectly identify the remote control protocol. On the other hand, if the remote control is configured to wait a long time after each code is sent in order to allow the user sufficient time for response, the identification process is likely to be time consuming which may cause dissatisfaction in users.
Furthermore, the Rumbolt II identification process relies on continuous communication between the remote control and the device. However, the infrared (1R) communication method disclosed by Rumbolt II is prone to frequent interruptions of communication due to misalignment of the IR ray produced by the remote control in relation to the media device. In normal use, misalignment does not present a significant problem for IR remote controls, because the user has immediate feedback as to whether the media device is receiving the remote control signals, and can realign the remote control accordingly. However, the Rumbolt II identification process does not provide such feedback. Thus, if the IR ray of the Rumbolt II remote is misaligned during the identification process, the remote may incorrectly indicate that the media device being identified is not supported.
Finally, the Rumbolt II remote cannot uniquely identify remote control protocols. There are distinct remote control protocols that share remote control codes for certain actions. This is especially true for often used actions, such as “channel up”. However these remote control protocols usually have different remote control codes for other actions, such as, for example, the menu functions. Thus, the protocol identified by the Rumbolt II remote control is not necessarily compatible with all remotely controllable actions offered by the identified media device.
A controller is a device that connects with one or more consumer media devices, and integrates these devices in a home entertainment system. A controller usually makes the assembly of a home entertainment system easier, as it is usually designed to correctly interoperate with a large number of devices. A controller may provide additional functions such as play back of digital media, connection to a computer network, etc. Furthermore, a controller may ease the user experience by providing a single point of control for the user. For this reason, controllers are often sold with associated remote controls, e.g. an infrared or RF handheld device. However, it remains necessary for a user to identify the various devices of the home entertainment system to the controller.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,718, issued to Hoyt and hereby incorporated by reference describes a controller which connects to various media devices by means of an infrared (IR) repeater. Like Ehlers, a user configures the controller to communicate with an external device by pressing one or more buttons on a remote control associated with the external device. The user must press enough buttons to perform a predefined action. The action is usually changing a channel. The controller may request the user to perform several actions (using, for example, channel numbers with one, two and three digits). The controller saves the received signals for each performed action and, thus “learns” to perform the action itself.
The controller of Hoyt requires that the user be able to correctly perform a predefined action on an external device. This may not be as simple as it seems. For example, it is possible (even likely) that, when a user purchases a new controller, he/she purchases other media devices as well. Thus, the user may not be familiar with the devices and may not know how to correctly perform the prescribed actions on them. And since the user may need to configure the controller in order to operate the other media devices, the user may not be able to visually confirm that he is sending the correct commands. Furthermore, the Hoyt controller learns basic procedures (such as changing the channel) which is assumed by Hoyt to be common to most if not all media devices. Hoyt does not describe how a controller may learn more esoteric features which are not present for all media devices.
Because user identification of devices connected to a controller may be unreliable, existing controllers often do not feature advanced functionality, which is more likely to cause problems if attached media devices are incorrectly identified. For example, overlapping codes may allow certain basic function of a misidentified device to operate, while advanced functions would fail.
What is needed is a controller that is able to identify and control connected media devices in a simple, easy and reliable manner.